Tao Nightclub Phuket combines a sophisticated décor with modern facilities and excellent drink prices to create one of the top live music bars in Patong, adding to an already lively scene of evening entertainment. Adapting perfectly to the audience, the band provides great Thai and western songs in a fun and friendly atmosphere.

A plush Chinese styling - featuring leather-effect table tops, red and gold wall panels and a tuk-tuk as a roof decoration – collides with industrial-style riveted girders and state-of-the-art lighting and screens. It creates an unusual but surprisingly effective mash-up of styles and themes, which mirrors the eclectic style of entertainment.

While there is a DJ’s stage set up at the back of Tao Nightclub Phuket, it is the live band on stage by the entrance which brings people through the door. A six-person local group, they are great at reading the room. We’ve heard them playing Thai pop and rock when there were fewer tourists in one night, then western rock and metal on another night. In both cases, the crowd were having a blast and even joining the group on stage to dance sometimes! There was also footage from a nightvision camera pointed at the band showing on the big LED screen behind the DJ stage.

The drinks prices are doubtless also a major draw, being slightly lower than the usual Bangla Road rates. Local beers as well as Carlsberg, Heineken are all at 150 baht, San Miguel and Chang Beer 99 baht only, with spirits generally ranging between 200 and 240 baht per glass. There are some cognacs and unusually high-quality whiskies available, such as 18-year-old Glenfiddich (350 baht per glass and 8,900 baht per bottle), which few other bars in the area stock.

Opening in late-2015, Tao Nightclub Phuket replaced Koh Bamboo Bar at the entrance to Soi Vegas. It is roughly opposite Soi Food Court, at the Rat-U-Thit Road end of Soi Bangla, and is next door to the entrance to Rock Hard Ago-go, which is under the same management.